All that spitting during the World Cup could be something called 'carb rinsing' — here's the science behind it

You might have noticed a lot of players spitting out
their water at the World Cup.

They could be rinsing out their dry mouths, but
scientists think they might be doing something called "carb
rinsing."

This is where you swirl a carbohydrate solution around
your mouth to trick your body into thinking energy is
coming.

This way you may give your brain a boost to stay
alert.

It isn't common practise yet, but sports scientists
believe the technique is on the rise.

Football fans were heartbroken all over England on Wednesday
night. The team was beaten by Croatia in the World Cup semfinals
in Russia, leading everyone across the nation to accept the fact
it's not coming home -
not until 2022, anyway.

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Looking back on the memories of the World Cup that wasn't to be,
you might remember seeing a lot of spitting. Not just normal
spitting, but players rinsing their mouths out with water and
producing a stream of water, rather than drinking it.

England's captain Harry Kane seemed to do this a lot, squirting
water from his bottle into his mouth only for it to come back out
again - as did midfielder Dele Alli, and Portugal's Cristiano
Ronaldo.

According to the New York
Times, this could be a fitness technique called "carb
rinsing." Drinking a lot of water can lead to bloating, so it
makes sense for players to wash their mouths out without
swallowing if they are feeling dry. But carb rinsing is where you
wash your mouth out deliberately with a carbohydrate solution,
which essentially tricks your body into performing better.

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It works by receptors in the mouth sensing the carbs and sending
signals to the pleasure and reward centers of the brain, saying
there is more energy on the way. This makes the muscles work
harder, without the negative effects of carbohydrate drinks like
stomach heaviness and cramps.

The England team didn't discuss its nutritional tactics at the
World Cup, the NY Times says, but a source familiar with the
team's regimen said carb rinsing was "standard practice."

A study published in 2017 in the
European Journal of Sport Science found that carb rinsing
boosted performance in a range of activities. The research team
from Coventry University tested 12 healthy men in their 20s, and
found after carb rinsing they could jump higher, do more bench
presses and squats, sprint faster, and were more alert.

David Ferguson, an assistant professor of exercise physiology at
Michigan State, told the NY Times that rinsing seems to help
players feel less fatigued and enhances their attention -
something that is very important after more than 90 minutes of
play.

Rather than making them run faster or kick harder, "it's simply
going to maximize their focus so that they are not succumbing to
fatigue, so they can put themselves in the right position to make
the right play," Ferguson said.

When England and Columbia's match went to penalties, for example,
players may have benefitted from a brain boost with carb rinsing.

"You're going to do every trick in the book to try to maximize
cognitive focus after two hours of a pretty intense match," Trent
Stellingwerff, a researcher of carb rinsing, told the NY Times.
"Is there science behind it in a soccer model? Not that I'm aware
of yet. Is it going to hurt? Absolutely not. If the athletes
believe in it and it's part of their mojo, will that work? You
betcha it will."

It's not a widespread technique yet, according to Asker
Jeukendrup, an exercise physiologist and sports nutritionist at
the University of Birmingham, but it definitely seems to be on
the rise.

"I hope it's all deliberate," he said. "It's good to see science
making its way into real sport."